{MORE Cleaning and Paint Prep!}

After Meghann's orthodontist appointment this morning, Michelle's back over to the new house to do more cleaning and paint prep work. We have to caulk along all the baseboards and crown moulding before we paint. Wipe down all walls, vaccum everything, clean all the beautiful hardwood floors, scrape all the peel-n-stick linoleum tiles off the garage floor so that Mike can do the showroom epoxy finish on it, then we should be ready to start painting. At least we bought the highest quality Behr paint that has the primer IN it...so 1 coat and we should be good to go! It'll feel so fresh when we're done! Thankfully we don't have to do any ceiling scraping, etc....all the ceilings and can lighting were already done for us! Need to change a few light switches (they were ALL about the dimmers in this house...I don't care for dimmer switches on ALL the lights!) and buy a few more energy efficient bulbs...thankfully the Home Depot is right down the street! Our house is SO beautiful! We look forward to many happy years there with family and friends!

"A house is made of boards and beams...but a HOME is made of love and dreams!"

{The Newest Homeowners in the LAC!!}

It's OFFICIAL! We're homeowners! The newest ones in LA County! We can't wait to have all our friends and family over...to help clean and paint! :-D Ha, ha, ha! We look foward to many happy years there as a family. Michelle will be starting the process today...cleaning the bathrooms, ShopVacing the whole place, putting new toilet seats on, making lists of everything we need to buy, putting on the new front door hardware/locks, washing down walls getting ready to paint, YEAH! We bought gallons of paint @ Home Depot yesterday, and Mike wants me to go back today and get a pressure washer, and I need to bring a paint sample to color match for MORE paint...Home Depot LOVES us right now!

We'll get pictures up as soon as stuff starts coming together so you can see before/after shots! Can't wait to have everyone over to share in our joy! Thanks so much for all the good thoughts and prayers that you all sent our way during this whole process. This has been THE BEST experience! We were blessed with a wonderful group of sellers (investment group), a superb escrow company, an AMAZING mortgage broker, and of course....our Sandi (real estate agent) who had to put up with looking at a million short sales, repos, etc before we found this PERFECT home! A dream come true for us! Thank you to GOD most of all for giving us the home that was meant to be ours. Without His hand, there would have been nothing...but we gave it all over to Him, and His mercy was poured out upon us! Praise Be to GOD!

{My AWESOME Brother and his COOL Job!}

For those of you that don't know, my big brother has his own company, Alpine Training Services. A few years ago, he started rigging a few stunts for the Biggest Loser on NBC. Now he is THE stunt rigger for the show! He comes up with all kinds of crazy things for them to do! Here is one of the most recent ones:

He's on camera AND you hear him speak! Stunt stuff starts @ 3:45 into it!
http://www.hulu.com/watch/68858/the-biggest-loser-week-15

He unhooks the man that gives up after the first little bit too, so check that out as well! We're all SO proud of Darren and the ATS team for all that they do! He's done some stunts for other shows as well, on the upcoming season of the Bachelorette you'll see another ATS stunt! Way to go, Bro!

{Closing on Friday!!}

Well...so it's a day late! They are funding the loan tomorrow and closing on Friday! The house is OURS on Friday! WooHoo! In LA County they can't fund and close on the same day, unless it's a Friday...and we had to wait until today for them to install the new water heater. As long as it's ours before the weekend, no worries! Can't wait to start cleaning and painting! Heading over to Home Depot tonight to pick up a million paint swatches and 2 new toilet seats! At long last...the Walkers are homeowners! Good to know that no one can kick us out on a whim (not like Claudia ever WOULD...but renters always have that worry!) and that we're not beholding to anyone else for where we'll be living! Thanks to Mike for working so hard to support his family and loving us always and always wanting us to have a good life! Megs and I are lucky! What a wonderful husband, father, friend, son-in-law, brother-in-law he is! Thanks to him we'll be in our beautiful new home on Friday! YEAH!

{Loan Docs are Signed...Final Walk Through Today!}

Oh BOY! The signer came to the house last night and we signed all our loan docs! We have our final walk through today after Megs gets out of school. We are still scheduled to close on Thursday, but in Long Beach they can't "fund" and "close" on the same day, so if the lender can't fund tomorrow, then we may not close until Friday. Whatever, since we're not moving in right away, it's okay! The GREAT news is that we don't owe ANYTHING @ closing! We had thought it would be about $1,500...but we're free and clear! So we'll get our whole $5,000 back to put into the house! Everything is moving fast and we're SOOOO close now! Hopefully we'll be in and painting this weekend! The electricity and gas/water are starting in our name on Thursday...just gotta make sure I bring toilet paper over in case our friends need to pee while they're painting! Hee, hee! Need to get the painting done before we have Megs' and our bedroom carpeted. The craft room will just stay hardwood, as will the rest of the house...but I like carpet in the bedrooms.

Our first house...all on our own...totally ours! YEAH!

{Happy 4th Birthday Kenzie!!}

WooHoo! Going to Mackenzie's birthday party over in Lakewood @ Ted & Steph's house! Hope she likes the gifts we bought her! Nothing like a leisurely afternoon partying with good friends! We're so blessed to have so many friends in our lives...it sure makes for fun weekends (and weekdays!)!!

{The party was from 2-4pm....we left @ 8pm! The kids LOVE Meghann and really enjoy playing with her...and we really enjoy Ted & Steph and had fun watching some funny Andy Samberg videos and just chatting. It's nice to have good friends....thank you Lord!}

{The New House...}

Well, we're still cooking along on the escrow...only 5 more days! It closes on the 23rd, Thursday. PHEW! Then we'll be HOMEOWNERS! And all on our own! It feels really good to be able to buy something with only the money that is earned with hard work and dedication. We can't wait to welcome all our family and friends into our new place! We'll be sending out the "We've Moved" cards soon so those of you that need it will have the new address. Our phone number will not change, one less thing to remember! We'll be posting more and more photos as we get in and start painting, etc...we know you're anxious to share in our joy of homeownership!

Peace and Love to all!

MMML

{Happy 5th Birthday, Meghann's Princess Leilani!}

Today our beautiful puppy is 5 years old! WOW! What wonderful times we've had together and look forward to many, many more years with her! She is an AKC registered Sheltie. Her name is "Meghann's Princess Leilani". We call her Lani. She's an easygoing, happy, friendly, loving dog! We are so blessed to have her in our lives. She LOVES to go camping with us, loves to have her doggy friends come and stay with us (Bitsy and Camille), loves treats (and can SPELL it...so don't think you can get away with T-R-E-A-T because she KNOWS!), and LOVES her "peeps"! We are lucky to be Lani's people...and will always strive to love HER as much as she loves US! Happy Birthday, Lani! We LOVE You!!

{Happy Easter!!}

Since everyone has gotten their cards by now, I can post this picture of it! Hope you all have a Happy Easter...and remember why we celebrate this holiday, JESUS!

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
-John 3:16

{We're Baaaaaaack!}

We are home after a WONDERFUL Spring Break up in Yosemite with the Romeros. We got back around 10:30pm yesterday and are going to unwind today and unpack the trailer. We only got sporadic internet service up @ the RV Resort, so I couldn't post more pictures after the other day...due to rain. We went to Mercer Caverns on a rainy Wednesday and had a great time! Here are some more pictures of our trip:

{This was the only thing in the caverns that we were allowed to touch. It's called "The Twins" and you can see from the dark color that it's been touched a lot. It no longer "grows".}

{This stalactite has broken off because people's heads have hit it!}

{Can you spot the "Melting Skull"?}

{"Bride's Veil"~The purest formation in the cavern}

{Do YOU see the "Jellyfish"?}

{As we were driving out of Yosemite the 2nd day, Mike had just finished saying how there are probably tons of animals in the woods that you DON'T see as you drive by because it's too hard to see them as you're driving. Suddenly, Frank yells out "BEAR!!!!!". We totally thought he was joking...then we saw it way back from the road. Mike swung the car off the road and we...yup, chased the bear! Only to find out that it was a Momma bear and her cub came out right behind her! AMAZING! What are the odds?!?! It was a BEAUTIFUL sight and a wonderful end to our day!}

{After our hike to Vernal Falls, we were driving out of the park and saw a ton of cars pulled over...we were lucky enough to get a spot in the parking lot to the right (people were just stopping and parking IN THE ROAD!) and this bear was hanging out on a log! So Frank took a MILLION pictures of it...(this was before we saw the Momma & Cub!)...so here are a couple!}

{On our hike to Vernal Falls, Mike found this nice rock to climb on...so he, Meghann, Michelle and Joel climbed up the back and posed for a photo!}

{We took the shuttle a few times and Mikaela LOVED it! She saw everyone grabbing the
poles, so she had to get in on the action!}

{Diana took a picture of Meghann taking a picture!}

{Vernal Falls}

{A small fall off the side of the road!}

{A Few Yosemite Photos}

We are having such a wonderful time up here in Yosemite with the Romeros! We had the BEST weather the past few days. Today it's supposed to rain, but that's okay...because it was the day that we'd planned to stay @ the RV resort anyway, so it worked out perfectly! We ran into the Sullivan family @ Yosemite on Sunday...they are a family from church. It was pretty funny because their son (they have quadruplets...2 boys, 2 girls) recognized me in the meadow eating lunch as they were riding by on their bikes, and his parents didn't believe him! :-) He was right! Here are some photos from our trip:

{A river running through the snow...}{We saw a lot of deer on this trip}{Mikaela takes a nap...hiking wears her out!}{Yosemite Falls~Upper and Lower}{Half Dome}{Bridalveil Fall}{Us @ Vernal Falls}

{Getting Our Camping On!!}

WooHoo! Spring Break 2009! The trailer is almost all packed and ready to roll! We're heading off to Yosemite with our friends, the Romeros. We are SO blessed to have many friends that share our hobby of RVing. The Romeros are friends from WAAAAAAY back @ the CHP Academy. Dianna and Michelle talked a lot while the hubbys were gone and the hubbys bonded through all the hard work to become Officers. They come down from Bakersfield usually once a year to Disneyland, where we meet up and have fun! THIS time, we're going to CAMP together! 'Cause they just got a new "Frank Toy"....which means, the biggest & best of whatever is out there! So we'll be watching TV in their trailer, the 42 inch flatscreen that comes up from behind the fireplace! :-) Only Frank.....

It'll be a fun time even though the weather isn't supposed to be the greatest, but that's what we have friends for! To make up for poopy weather! It'll be a nice break from all the hustle and bustle of house buying and paperwork! Thankfully Michelle is very organized, so whenever there is a new statement, letter, whatever...it's been neatly filed away, and super easy to find! We look forward to the close of escrow on the 23rd of April! Then we can clean, paint the colors that we'd like in the rooms, etc. before moving in. Maybe demo the kitchen too....depends on what Darren's schedule is like. Doing all the stunts for The Biggest Loser and now The Bachelorette as WELL as running his own company (well, he DOES have Travis!) takes a lot of his time. But he's happy to help whenever he's free, which is what is great about having a loving brother! Willing to give up his own free time to help his sis and bro-in-law!

So off we go....into the wild, wet, green, mountainy, world! Just Mike, Michelle, Meghann, & Lani! The best camping crew, ever!

Happy Spring Break 2009 to all of you too!